Meeting and Marriage
by x1-TaKeN-oVeR
Summary: 2x1 and really nasty attitudes towards Blondes..sorry! Okay folks, this is the prequel for Maxwell in the Morning. This is what you have all been askin' for so READ!


Title: Meeting and Marriage  
  
Author: x1-TaKeN-oVeR  
  
Disclaimers: Original idea goes to Sandra Brown...I don't own anything.  
  
Warnings: verbal abuse to blondes, cursing, temper tantrums, limes, spoiled brats...  
  
This is what you all wanted...the prequel to Maxwell in the Morning. So read and tell me what you think...I hope it doesn't give away why Hee-chan is upset quite yet.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
"Okay, now take a deep breath."  
  
He took a deep breath.  
  
"Good, now let it out slowly."  
  
He let his breath out slowly.  
  
"Very good, you are doing wonderful. Now repeat after me, 'I am number one.'"  
  
He did as told and repeated, "I am number one."  
  
"'I am the greatest."  
  
"I am the greatest."  
  
"Very, very good. Now, I want you to tell yourself that you can conquer anything. You are number one, the greatest and qualified to do whatever your heart desires. You are..."  
  
Heero pushed the stop button on his tape player and shut off the car engine. He took a deep breath and whispered to himself, "I am the greatest...I am number one and I'm qualified to do whatever my heart desires. All right then, just remember that you can't be pushed around. Here, you are the boss and Mr. Maxwell will take orders from you." He nodded to himself once more and slowly got out of the car.  
  
Heero Yuy was taking of the strenuous job of becoming a producer for the hit TV show 'Maxwell in the Morning.' Heero was warned by many that the job would be strenuous because of a certain star who had a nasty habit of having temper tantrums around the clock. That was partly the reason of why the last producer and the many before had quit.  
  
Heero made his way through the automatic doors to see Mr. Callahan waiting for him in the downstairs lobby. Heero smiled and waved as he walked towards him. He owed Mr. Callahan everything because he was the one who had referred him and made sure that he had gotten the job.  
  
"Heero, my boy, about time you made it. It's not good to arrive late on your first day...bad impression and all." He enveloped Heero into a hug and held him by the forearm.  
  
Heero snorted, "What kind of clock are you looking at? I'm ten minutes early, Mr. Callahan."  
  
Gray eyes twinkling, Mr. Callahan laughed and ran a hand through his black hair that had streaks of gray. "I told you to call me Dawn and I'm looking at the same watch as you are. You are supposed to be twenty minutes early...always remember that."  
  
Heero laughed but nodded his head all the same. "I understand, Dawn."  
  
"Right then, let's get you upstairs to meet your cast and operating crew. Unfortunately, I have some other business to take care of but I will be back on your lunch break to take you out for hot dogs. Now, the floor you want to be on is four. Just take the elevator right on up there. Make your way down the hallway and then take a right. They should all be waiting for you there." He gave Heero another hug and walked towards the automatic doors.  
  
"Thanks again, Dawn!" Heero called after him and got a wave in return. He looked towards the elevator and pressed the up button. Once the elevator opened he pushed the number four and waited as the elevator took him to the desired floor.  
  
He stepped out onto the floor once the elevator doors opened and walked down the hallway. The first thing he encountered were white walls with various paintings along with crying and shouting that seemed to be coming from the room that Heero was supposed to enter.  
  
He took a deep breath and opened the door that led to the studio of 'Maxwell in the Morning.' Heero took one step and tripped over something that was lying on the floor. He looked down to see coffee cups and other various items that were just lying around.  
  
'What on Earth?' He questioned to himself and carefully made his way deeper into the studio. He had to hop, step, and jump over things that were lying around innocently.  
  
"What the hell were you thinking? I knew you were dumb but damn...this is fucking STUPID!"  
  
Heero winced at the foul words that were angrily spoken and looked towards the speaker. Heero knew immediately that the person who had spoken was undoubtedly Duo Maxwell.  
  
"I just wanna know where the hell your head was when you were making this mistake." Duo shook his head and snorted, "You know, the job position you have is quite easy, any idiot could do this. But for some reason you can't...it doesn't even require that much brain power and Lord only knows that you are limited with that as well." Duo thrust his hands into the air and sighed loudly.  
  
Heero turned his eyes from Mr. Maxwell to the source of his obvious temperament. He looked down at the small, blonde woman that looked to be around the same age as he. She was sitting in a corner with her knees pulled to her chest, and hands over her face sobbing loudly.  
  
She started to stutter out, "I-I'm s-sorry Mr. M-Maxwell, I really d-didn't m-mean..."  
  
Duo interrupted her, "Of course not, Dim Whit [2]. You never do; this has got to be the thousandth fuck up that you have done this year and it's fucking February!" He mumbled under his breath, "Fucking blondes."  
  
Heero had enough and spoke up, "Excuse me."  
  
Heero saw Duo turn around and found himself staring up into fierce amethyst eyes. Heero had, of course, seen Duo Maxwell on TV but it seemed that the TV screen didn't do him justice. He had a full head of chestnut brown hair that was tied together in a long braid that fell to his slim hips. He was tall, probably about five or six inches taller than himself. He was muscular but not overly so, you could tell that he worked out at least three times a week and you had no doubt that under his gray dress shirt was a hard, defined stomach with a six pack.  
  
Heero shook himself from the piercing gaze and looked throughout the room. They're were two men who were staring at him over a Playboy magazine [1], and a camera man who was looking at him in a very disturbing way with a cigarette hanging off of his chapped lips. Heero turned away shuddering and found himself looking into light green eyes that belonged to the woman who was crying hysterically from Duo's verbal abuse.  
  
The woman sniffled; "You are the new producer, aren't you?"  
  
Heero nodded and smiled kindly, "That I am; I apologize if I'm too early," Heero glanced towards Duo's direction, "or too late."  
  
Heero watched as the young woman wiped her tears away and slowly smiled towards him. He questioned softly, "So, may I ask what exactly is going on here?"  
  
The woman opened her mouth but Duo beat her to it. "Dim Whit here fucked everything up by..."  
  
"Mr. Maxwell, I honestly don't think that I was talking to you and could you please refrain from calling her Dim Whit." He looked down at the girl and winked, "I'm sure she has a much prettier name."  
  
She smiled widely and replied, "Carrie Winston."  
  
"All right then, Miss Carrie could you please tell me what happened that would make Mr. Maxwell get so upset?"  
  
"Just who the hell do you think you are?" Duo questioned with eyes blazing.  
  
Heero smirked, "My name is Heero Yuy and I will be your new producer. Now back to the problem." He motioned for Carrie to continue when Duo once again cut through.  
  
"Now wait..."  
  
Heero whirled towards Duo and stated through clenched teeth. "Mr. Maxwell, for me to help fix the problem I'm going to have to hear it, if you don't mind. But it seems that I can't with you interrupting Miss Carrie like this; show some respect and keep quiet."  
  
Carrie dared a glance at Duo to see him put on a full fledged glare at her. She gulped but shakily started, "I...uh...had made a mistake of telling our guest for today to come an hour early thinking that the set would be up and ready for her. I..."  
  
"We don't start putting the set together until seven and Dim Whit told the guest to be here at six. It's all her fucking fault," Duo grumbled.  
  
Heero ignored Duo and waited patiently for Carrie to continue. "I had forgotten that we don't start setting up until seven. I had apologized to her and put her in a room so that she would wait until its time to go on Air. She stayed in the room for all of ten minutes and began to get upset with us. Now, she is threatening to leave and we constantly have people going in there to calm her down but..."  
  
Heero nodded his head knowingly; it seemed that the guest had the infamous "Star Syndrome" that seems to attack and leech onto movie stars. He turned his eyes towards Duo to see him still glaring at poor Carrie and couldn't help but think that he had also been bitten by the nasty bug.  
  
"So, Mister...what was it again?" Duo questioned as he, once again, gave Heero an appreciative once over...not that Heero knew, of course.  
  
"Heero Yuy," Heero grumbled.  
  
"Right, well Heero what do you plan on doing about this whole fuck up?" Duo crossed his arms over his broad chest and smiled triumphantly.  
  
Heero thought for a moment. What was he going to do? Well, anything he was going to do, he had to do it fast. He couldn't let Duo Maxwell or anyone else get the better of him. 'Remember, I am the greatest,' he mentally drew up the courage and started spouting out orders.  
  
"Okay, for one thing, I need you two to put away that degrading magazine you're drooling over. I don't ever want to see it here again, understand?" Heero gave himself a pat on the back as he heard his voice come out surprisingly calm and authoritative.  
  
The two men briefly glanced at each other before standing up, wiping any other traces of drool and throwing away the magazine. Heero heard one of them mutter, "I have this issue at home anyway," but he didn't care. The important thing was they actually listened to him.  
  
He nodded and continued, "Now, I want the both of you to pick up in here. It looks like a pig sty and I don't work in pig sties."  
  
He turned his gaze toward the camera man who was still eyeing him like a piece of prized meat. "Get rid of that cigarette; there is to be no smoking in here. I catch you smoking anywhere in this building and you're fired, got me?"  
  
The man smiled and Heero noticed that he didn't have his two front teeth. He shuddered when the man stated huskily, "Sure suga', I gotcha." The man took one last drag before throwing it on the floor and extinguishing it with the heel of his boot.  
  
Heero shook his head in pity and turned to Carrie who was still sitting on the floor. Heero searched around and saw a box of tissues on a near by table. He walked over and grabbed a few before heading towards Carrie. He bent down and handed them over. He smiled kindly; "Crying doesn't get anyone anywhere so we have to learn to stop. Plus, we can't have you crying and making your pretty face all puffy, now can we?"  
  
Carrie shook her head and smiled while taking the offered tissues. She slowly stood up, as if just remembering she had on a skirt, and walked off somewhere down a different hall.  
  
Heero looked up to see everyone staring at him and he frowned. "How about we get this stuff done now? Not tomorrow but today." He saw, with satisfaction, how everyone seemed to jump and hop to work.  
  
Heero turned to Duo, "Who is our guest?"  
  
"Julia Roberts [3]," Duo stated gruffly.  
  
Heero just shrugged it off as Duo being a big baby. "Do you know where I can find her?"  
  
Duo grinned lopsidedly, "Why don't you have Dim Whit show you? I'm sure she knows but then again she probably doesn't. That girl would lose her head if it wasn't attached to her body."  
  
Just then, Carrie came back into the room carrying two mugs of coffee. She walked towards Duo but stumbled over some wiring that caused her to spill some of the coffee near Duo's foot.  
  
Duo jumped out of the way but wasn't fast enough as he got some coffee on his shoes. Duo glared at her as she meekly offered the warm mug. He grabbed the handle and mumbled, "Thanks," while also mumbling some inappropriate obscenities.  
  
Heero noticed Carrie walking towards him and quickly reached for the mug. He smiled warmly and took a sip of the black liquid. "Would you mind taking me to the room where our guest is staying?"  
  
Carrie nodded her blonde heard eagerly. "I wouldn't mind at all."  
  
He turned to Duo and noticed that he was no longer paying attention to his ruined shoes but to himself. Heero swallowed carefully and spoke sternly...or tried to. "Mr. Maxwell shouldn't you be looking at your lines for the show?"  
  
"I memorized them," Duo stated tightly.  
  
Heero could see Duo's "patience" wear thin but couldn't help retort icily, "Well, then I suggest you memorize them again, hmm?"  
  
Heero turned from Duo and nodded his thanks as Carrie led him down a series of halls. It was silent except for the steady clicks of her high heels and his own dress shoes.  
  
Suddenly she spoke up, "Mr. Yuy, I would like to thank you for what you did."  
  
Heero raised a slim eyebrow; "What for? And please call me Heero."  
  
"For helping me with Mr. Maxwell...it was quite brave of you. No one has ever stood up to him like that and if they did, they were immediately fired." She looked down at her feet as they took step after step.  
  
"You don't have to thank me for anything. I did it because you surely didn't deserve it. It was an honest mistake and anyone could've done it. Also, Mr. Maxwell was acting quite childish throwing a temper like that. He is an adult and as an adult you need to control your anger and not get a hissy fit every time something doesn't go your way."  
  
Carrie giggled softly and grabbed Heero's arm so that it looked as if he was escorting her down the hall. "Well, Heero, I know that today may have not been the best day to come here but you have to believe me when I say that Mr. Maxwell isn't always such a..."  
  
"An arrogant asshole who needs a good spanking like the baby he is," Heero finished for her. He felt her grip his arm tighter and laugh. He wondered to himself, 'How could he yell at her like that? She seems to me very warm, kind, and yes, a little ditzy but no one can be perfect...like he WISHES he could be.'  
  
"I was going to say 'stick in the mud' but from your persona I'm not surprised you came with that conclusion." She stuck a blonde strand of hair behind her ear and directed Heero towards a room that had a lot of noise coming from it.  
  
"This is where our guest is held. I warn you, she is a lot like Mr. Maxwell was this morning so be careful." She smiled kindly and opened the door for Heero, she stayed outside and whispered, "Have fun." She squeezed his arm once and then made her way back down the hall.  
  
Heero walked into the room and searched for Mrs. Julia Roberts. He found her sitting in a chair yelling at some poor fool who had, apparently, gotten her the wrong type of coffee. He saw her slam the cup on a table, grab her purse and push pass him as she stormed out of the room.  
  
He stood there for a full 10 seconds before running after her. He finally caught up with her and tried to speak, "Mrs. Roberts? Hi, my name is..."  
  
"I don't give a flying fuck who you are but I will tell you one thing," she stopped in the middle of the hallway and glared menacingly at Heero, "I have never been treated quite like this before. This is the worst television show I have ever been on and the actual studio? Ugh! Total pig sty! I swear..." She muttered some words under her breath and walked away.  
  
Heero thanked everything that he didn't catch what Mrs. Roberts had said. 'I need to go to church after the day is over with.' Never, in all his life, had he ever heard as many curse words as he had today. He had enough words to start a five hundred page dictionary.  
  
He hurriedly walked after Mrs. Roberts and tried again. "Listen, Mrs. Roberts, I know that today has not been the greatest for you. You have been treated like dirt and I understand your anger. I just wish you would reconsider this and do the interview with Mr. Maxwell. You can't even imagine how excited I was that you were our guest today!"  
  
Julia Roberts stopped and turned to Heero, raising an eyebrow. "You were?"  
  
"Oh yes, very much so! And if I do allow myself to say, I am one of your biggest fans." Heero knew that he was out right lying but anything for the show right? You had to make some sacrifices for a television show and this would be one of them. Heero also knew that this, if anything else, really made him remember to get up early for Sunday church.  
  
"Really? Well, it is nice to know that SOMEONE here appreciates me." Julia Roberts held a smirk on her face as she haughtily threw her hair over her shoulder.  
  
Heero held himself against rolling his eyes. "My three favorite movies are the Mexican, Runaway Bride and Erin Brockovich. I don't think that anyone else could've pulled off the movies as quite as good as you did."  
  
Julia smiled and really looked at Heero for the first time. He was about an inch or two shorter than she was but it didn't seem to bother her too much. She looked from his unruly chocolate locks to his shiny black dress shoes.  
  
"I would very much like it if you would reconsider and go through with the interview. I apologize for everything that you have had to endure this morning but I must say that without the unfortunates happening, I would not have had the chance to talk to you as I am now. This is really a dream come true to talk to you so personally."  
  
"You know what? I think I will stay since you are being such a dear...you sure do know how to treat someone." She smiled, "I don't think that I caught your name."  
  
Heero smiled and held out his hand, "Heero Yuy, I'm supposed to be the new producer here but I see that I'm not doing a very good job."  
  
She waved her hand in the air, "Nonsense, everyone has their bad days. The key is to know how to make bad days good and you certainly know how to do that. Now, I believe that I have an interview to do so if you please show me the way."  
  
Heero escorted Julia Roberts towards the studio and handed her over to one of the crew members that had the microphones and material that she needed. He watched as the two went over what they were going to talk about in the interview.  
  
Heero felt as if a great weight had been lifted off his shoulders and ran a trembling hand through his longs bangs. He turned around to find Carrie smiling at him and giving him a thumbs up. He blushed lightly and walked towards her.  
  
"Great job Heero! I really thought that we weren't going to have a guest for today."  
  
"For a moment I didn't either," Heero confessed.  
  
"So tell me...what was your secret? How did you get her to stay?" Carrie's eyes were wide with wonder.  
  
Heero laughed at her expression, "I'm sorry but if I told you that, I would have to kill you."  
  
Carrie smiled and nodded her head knowingly. "Okay, I got it."  
  
"Do you know where I can find Mr. Maxwell? We need to start shooting pretty soon." Heero had changed the subject as soon as he glanced at the clock on the far wall.  
  
Carrie thought for a moment, "He should be in his dressing room getting ready. You go down the same hall we were just in and make a left instead of right. His room will be the second door on the right."  
  
Heero nodded and tried to remember the directions as he made his way out the studio to find Mr. Maxwell.  
  
~*~*~*~*~*~  
  
Well, how was it? It's off to a kind of rough start but it will get better hopefully. I'm trying to make this prequel in less than 4 chapters...I hope I can follow through with it. That's all I need is a long prequel...  
  
[1] - In the actual book two men are looking at a Penthouse magazine but I decided to change it. I had to put it in here cuz it was just too good to pass up.  
  
[2] - This is what Riley calls the poor girl in the book. I couldn't think of another name for her...plus I was pretty attached to this name. Not very creative on my part, huh?  
  
[3] - Don't get upset with this one. I like Julia Roberts, she is a great actress...especially Erin Brockovich. I added her cuz I couldn't think of anyone else. Don't take to heart of the person I am making her to be.  
  
In a sentence above I wrote the phrase 'hissy fit' with much emphasis on hissy. I saw on my spell check that the word is correctly spelled hussy but it didn't seem right to me because I say 'hissy.' I don't really know which one is right but if it is 'hussy' then I am sorry. In the future I will try not to make the same mistake. Please, just ignore it as a spelling error.  
  
YOU LIKE IT? PLEASE TELL ME YA DO AND REVIEW ME! 


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